"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." ~ C. S. Lewis (Yes, even politics)

In loving memory of Mr. Z

Saturday, March 30, 2013

What IS "Winning?"

Most of you have heard that Nike has a new motto "Winning Takes Care of Everything," right? Apparently, Tiger Wood has said this for years and Nike used it in an ad under his picture. It's not Tiger who apparently came up with this ad, it was the Nike ad department, but how could they not have realized what they were saying?
Winning does take care of his finances, his reputation, his ego, right? But it doesn't smooth over what he did to his wife and children, does it? Someone on the news last night said something like "perhaps if Tiger came forth and told Nike 'no, it doesn't, really....I made a mess of my family and no amount of winning will take care of that'..." Wouldn't that have said a lot about Tiger? But, he hasn't. He's feeling better, he's playing great golf again, and he's having an affair with skier Lindsay Vonn. Life is sweet for him, isn't it. On the outside. And, maybe, for him, on the inside, too.

I'm blogging it today because I felt like it was part of the Easter message. Is it WINNING that "takes care of everything?"

Winning is SO SO much more.........and faith has a big part of that, in my opinion. I know people who have very little money and they're winners........I know people who've suffered terrible health problems and they've won in so many ways.

68 comments:

At the age of 13, Adam contracted meningitis -- complicated by a MASSIVE brain hemorrhage. The family was told, "Prepare for your son to die."

Adam did not die.

The doctor, an atheist, gasped in a few days, "I can't believe it. We have just witnessed a miracle."

Yes, Adam survived -- albeit having lost the ability to walk, to talk, to read, you name it.

The following year, he had regained much and joined my class. His remaining deficits: obstinateness, outbursts involving stuttering and other speech impediments, severe memory problems, and balance issues.

After five years in high school -- he needed that extra year -- he is a winner.

He works as a life guard at a county swimming pool and has saved two from drowning

He has a successful lawn-care business.

He attends community college.

He writes moving essays.

And never a complaint or a whine from him -- never mind what had happened to him through no fault of his own.

Adam is a TRUE WINNER!

He once said to me, "Once I've put my hand to a task, I don't stop until I've accomplished that task."

I was once flying to Germany via London (got Germany in there Z) on a 747 and there must have been 12 people at most on the plane.When the movie was over, I looked around the cabin and saw an older guy with a redhead on his shoulder and he smiled. I smiled back and got up to talk to him.I asked him where he was going and he said he was taking his wife to Ireland to visit family.I asked what he did for a living and he said "groceries".I laughed and said, "You must be Abner A. Wolff!" (I had worked in a grocery store and he was a big distributor). He smiled and said that Abner was his chief competitor.I said, "It must be nice to be successful." and he asked me, "What is success?".I replied, "To have money and be able to do the things you want to do, like take your wife to Ireland."He asked if I'd heard of a brand of frozen seafood and I said yes (you have, also).He told me he knew the guy who founded the company.He was a shrimp boat captain who was not catching enough shrimp to meet his fuel bills. 10,000 pounds would have been a good catch, but no one was getting more than 2,000.He was also an alcoholic, and one night in the bar he bellowed "I'm the best ### shrimper in the keys and there's not enough shrimp to make a living!".A guy overheard him and told him that if he was the best shrimper in the keys, bring his haul to pier such and such and he'd get x dollars a pound. That was a high dollar for shrimp.He went out the next day, and only got about 2,000 pounds again, but on the way back he radio'd his fellow shrimper and told them to meet him at pier so and so and he give them a little under x dollars a pound.That night in the bar he drunkenly bellowed that he was the best shrimper in the keys and there wasn't enough shrimp to make a living. The buyer was with him and told him he wasn't the best shrimper in the keys. This almost led to a fight, until his new friend told him we was the best shrimp BUYER in the keys.They went into a partnership, bought a commercial freezer and started a company, and after a while the captain bought out his partner and went on to grow the company to the firm it is today. I said, "That's some story. So he ended up a success."My fellow passenger told me:"He's on his third marriage, he's in therapy and he's still an alcoholic. Is that success?"That story had a profound effect on me. I don't know if the teller was a Christian and he was ministering to me along witnessing lines or just sharing some wisdom from his life.To this day, almost 40 years later, I remember it (and I never got the tellers name).But it helped me realize winning isn't everything."What profiteth it a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

When he plays poorly, he acts like the biggest jerk ever. When he plays poorly he curses like a ghetto rapper..Tiger has never been a gracious loser. He rarely acknowledges anyone else that beats him.. To me, his demeanor has alwaysbeen one resembling an arrogant spoiled brat, that has never grown up. Tiger certainly has problems, but who doesn’t. No need to show the world what a Jackass he his because HE has problems. He doesn’t seem to mind his problems when he buy 20 million dollar homes ar 15 Luxury cars. In my mind he will always be an arrogant whiny cry baby and a spoiled brat. . As for Nike’s ad, Winning takes care of everything. Thats typical of this arrogant spoiled brat. This is a typical motto of the far left has. The ends always justify any means. Win or lose, he’s still a POS!Now, can we please get back to how the Liberals are destroying our country and our lives?

The kind of success that leaves you asking "Is that all there is?" No thanks. It's not for me.Success, to me, means trying harder today than I did yesterday to be a better mother, wife and "looker afterer" of God's creatures. (As Gracie says). I dunno, maybe because I was orphaned and abused I realize what is really important? Every day that I do not succumb to the heartbreak of my childhood is winning, as far as I can tell.I'm truly blessed and I KNOW it. THAT is winning, I think!Happy Easter, my friends!

Tiger Woods is a world class jerk. When he won his first Master's title in Augusta, the dinner held in the winner's honor that evening had always been one of grace and tradition. Only past winners and the servers were in attendance.

Always, the dinner was held with respect for the game, and the fare was one of taste and regality...that is, until Tiger showed up. As the winner, he ordered cheeseburgers.

Cheeseburgers.

In the hallowed halls of Augusta. Never before had a winner defiled the honors dinner. Until Tiger Woods walked through those hallowed doors.

Tiger Woods may have wound up with the lowest scores at the end of many a tourney, but I will never consider him a winner in life.

Or, looking at it another way, yes: he is the winner of the contest for worlds' biggest jerk.

AOW, that is a wonderful young man there. Amazing courage! What an example.

Ed, that's a terrific story...it's marvelous how stories like that stick with us for years and years. It says a lot about you that it has.

Sue, well said. what good insight.

My Cons. Thoughts...I think this attitude DOES have something to do with how liberals are ruining our country.Question Man was just here (i had to delete two of his ridiculous, LONG, comments calling us all racists because we dare to criticize Wood!!) and, as a liberal, he exemplifies the person who thinks more of his color than dignity or character. Thank GOD many Black AMericans think more like Dr. MLK, Jr. It's character, not color. And I pity QM because finding racism in everything is a very painful place to be.

Divine Theater, you ARE a winner! I didn't know that about your background. You've made such a wonderful home (with your family AND your good taste!) that you're a walking example of winning in spite of adverse circumstances!

Fredd...it's sad when people don't respect the old traditions of places like that, though I DO like a Cheeseburger!

Tiger had the world at his fingertips...happy family, beautiful wife, great, great talent, a nice family to grow up in ....and he blew it.

As I said in my post, if he'd ONLY corrected Nike, "no, I'm a winner in playing but I hurt my family and that is no winner", he'd have elevated himself in all our eyes and Nike would have got still MORE publicity.That he hasn't shows that he hasn't that strength. Nothing to do with his color, everything to do with character.

WINNING is doing the right thing for our country. Here's an example of LOSING: Did anybody hear that Obama's now giving $500 M to Palestinians? This was blocked a few months ago by Congress.He's doing this quietly; only conservative news venues seem to have picked the story up.

Please,liberals, before you call us racist for criticizing this move, do your homework and show we're wrong WITH A LINK. Trust us, nobody'd be happier to think this is NOT true than we who love this country and know what a nightmare our gov't is creating by backing financially Islamists in that region.

On the very rare occasions when I come into contact with someone who who is generally unconcerned with Self, interested instead in others, and does his absolute best to bring a measure of aid, comfort, cheer, and encouragement to those he meets in his daily routine I consider that person a WINNER in the Game of Life.

Whenever we lapse into finger pointing -- accusatory rhetoric -- self-righteous condemnation of others -- or give way to the temptation to complain and lament we are not with God.

It really is as simple as that.

After all, Jesus Christ, the only person who ever lived without flaw, WILLINGLY let Himself, be mocked, scorned, humiliated, tortured and brutally executed in order to show us that living with HUMILITY and SELF-SACRIFICE is our only hope of overcoming what-we-perceive-as the cruelty, insensitivity, unfairness, injustice, and stupidity no one will ever escape meeting sooner or later in this temporal world.

If we want to experience the true joy in living, we must work cheerfully and unselfishly in service to others. We must live fully -- as though we believe this life will never end -- yet at the same time accept the certainty that it can -- and eventually will -- end long before our work whatever it might be could be completed.

If you like, I'll list them. My Conservative Thoughts, Fredd, Z, Free Thinke, JonBerg. And last but not least AOW. This is what all racists on the right believe because they can’t stand the fact that America voted for a Black man as President. More evidence that it’s much easier to blame a black man then use some intelligence !

Question Man, I'm leaving your comment this time because it's important people see it.

I have Black relatives I love very much, so I'd be really careful who I called a racist, buddy.

And, grow up; read Sam's excellent comment. We don't vote color, we vote our beliefs and, so far, even you should see what a hideous mess Obama's created. By the way, he could have very easily been white and created this mess, too. Except he'd not have won 97% of the black vote. Let's look at who's really racist when you learn THAT fact, pal.

You are the sad, sad racist, QM. I fear for you because you will forever look at life through the lens of victim. There are no racists here, only people who think of the PERSON first, not their color...as Dr MLK Jr suggested. We think first of the good of our country.You should read Dr King's speeches, you poor man, you have a lot to learn about life and race.

I don't hate you, I feel very sorry for you.

I'd vote for Benjamin Carson yesterday if I could. I'll bet you wouldn't.

By the way, folks...have you all heard that some public schools are banning the word EASTER and the bunny is now the SPRING BUNNY!? (80% of America's Christian but we have to hide it, I guess, so nobody's feelings are hurt?...amazing..and funny, considering the Jews I know have NEVER thought Christmas and Easter bothered them..........maybe it's islam we're being careful around?)

My stepson just emailed me from Munich asking "have they gone nuts over there? At least we can still say HAPPY EASTER in school"?How embarrassing. Thankfully, he understands leftist secularists pretty well. Not sure the rest of Europe does (it doesn't)...but I have to say "America! STOP wondering why they hate us!"

ANYWAY.. I have a solution!

Let's encourage all the kids to call Easter RESURRECTION SUNDAY! And say the RESURRECTION BUNNY!

The more that I read of your various, redundant, rants the more I think that you are a complete phony, simply vying for attention; much like those monickered as : Liberalmann and Ducky. In fact I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that you are one-in-the-same!

Winning is different things to different people. That's what the shrinks say. AOW gives one great winner, and Ed tells us about one of is defining experiences.

I know that when I play a game, I enjoy it a lot better if I win. For example, many years ago I bought a chess game, and endeavored to learn to play chess by using this game.

The darned thing beat me easily on the first level. I was beside myself, and bought a book on how to play chess.

After reading the book for a couple of days, I beat that darned computer on level one, and never played chess again. I determined to end my chess career as a winner. True story...

Some of you are throwing out definitions of winning, and I assume they fit your ideas. I am a competitive person, and I love to win. I love to win in business, arguments, and games. I believe that people have to try harder to win, and that is how I approached my career.

With people like Tiger Woods, winning IS everything because that's how they make their living. Call it pride of work, good salesmanship, a job well done, or whatever, it is winning. I can see where Tiger's cheeseburger could have been some sort of statement, as in "times are changing" with the first black man that won the Masters Tournament.

The one situation where we don't have competition is God's Grace. We don't deserve it, and cannot work for it. It is a gift. We are automatic winners in the most important aspect of our lives.

Yes...what a pitiful, useless man he is. I guess he'll just have to go back to saving childrens lives and making small miracles on a daily basis. What a waste of talent, eh?. How many have you saved today...Dick?

Such a useless life he's led....heres an example of how wasted his life really is:

"Among other surgical innovations, Carson did pioneering work on the successful separation of conjoined twins joined at the head. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, by President George W. Bush in 2008."

Now you'll tell me what a contribution Jesse Jr, Jerky Sr. and Fat Al Sharpton have contributed to mankind...for the black experience?

Maybe Dr. Ben can get an MSNBC slot ( Called more "Racism USA" ) alongside Fat Al dissing blacks who are successful, aren't on the down low and have earned their street cred by doing a Mac 10 drive-by in Detroit ( where he was raised ) or in Chicago where the life expectancy is determined by how many bullets you have left to kill each other.

Are you missing the fact that your "Black man" is, allegedly, just as much a White man? Now, worm your way out of that! And, while you are at it, why don't you re-name yourself 'The Nowhere Man'? BTW I'm proud to be included on your list, above. Also, sorry Ducky if I gave you too much credit.

Ducky, that article is the most biased, hateful stupidity I've read in a long time.Carson's "not going anywhere" because he's far too decent a man to make it in America.And his comment about NAMBLA was horrible; I heard it when he said it. When Obama says anything wrong, he's "inartful"...when a Republican does, it's HORRIBLE :-)I hope you do as well when you're on TV with millions watching.He's far far too good and intelligent a man to be president..don't worry, Ducky.You'll get your way and this country will be the secular socialist sewer you dream of.

And you've "worked too hard"..what? Don't bother. Please.

BOB..the point I was making with this point is that winning is Wood's golden altar, but SHOULD IT BE? And how awful it is for Nike to perpetuate that winning is all, even if you ruin your family in the meantime.You totally nailed in your comment. we know who are really WINNERS, particularly on Easter Sunday! "Automatic winners"..well said.Ya, don't you love that..? We'll skip EASTER BUNNY with secularists because schools have BANNED THE WORD EASTER..they haven't banned the word RESURRECTION :-) HEH HEH!!

I'm hearing today that there are MANY Muslims coming to Christ in IRAN..I've heard it a lot over the last few years, but heard some really interesting stuff today. AND, it's not the older muslims converting in private, it's apparently the young people. Did you know that muslims are reporting DREAMING of Jesus at night? Really amazing.I remember the Bible says something about how if people won't talk of Jesus, the stones will proclaim him...I think it's in the entrance to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. I love that line and it feels like it's happening in those dreams!Great Easter Sunday news.

Here it is: From Luke 19:

"When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

JonBerg...good point about Obama being half white. That is NEVER EVER EVER talked about, is it. NEVER. Odd...that really is odd. I guess it just doesn't work for liberals?

Imp...great point. Carson is miraculous considering from whence he came, too. And, he and his wife have been working for years with kids' reading programs and getting great success. He's so right about reading, too... they're lost if they can't read and comprehend well.The kids at our school come in like normal noodniks who don't love to read, haven't read much in Middle School, etc., and by the time they leave as graduates, they'll have read Odysseus, Jane Eyre, much of Dickens, Homer, Socrates, Plato..you name it. AND have fantastic Socratic seminars...it's unbelievable. And they love it! It's so exciting to see two kids sitting in the courtyard talking about Aristotle!

Kid, you know, some of the are 'true believers' and think "Obama's so CUTE", etc., but a LOT of them are SOLID THINKERS with very conservative viewpoints. It's almost mind boggling...and BELIEVE me, we do NOT indoctrinate at our school. Plus, a few of our young teachers (most are under 30) are more liberal than I'd have hoped.But, always respectful and ready to listen to the conservative viewpoint.

They can use Orwell, can't they! I'm not sure if they read it, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I wish I could show you around while classes were in progress; you would really be so impressed. xxx

I haven't been in <a href="http://www.chca-oh.org/" this one, but it's about a mile from where I work. 17k a year to go there, which taken one way, means lots of kids are excluded who would no doubt benefit.

As you well know, Liberals come from a child like mind-set. Bobby: (whine,cry) Billy has more toys than me; Mommy, Mommy make Billy give me his toys! Liberals make me want to VOMIT! These are, truly, people who have not and will never grow-up! They have always been here but never have we seen such a growing profusion of them! They are so self-absorbed they will never see or understand the true Hell that's coming and [they] didn't get here all by themselves!

JonBerg, were you always conservative or did you have an epiphany later on in life, or??

I think libs are going to have to really examine their views because NO COUNTRY has ever made it by spending more than they're taking in...this isn't all their fault, but Obama's made an art of it.And they won't tighten belts because they'll never get elected again and Republicans are afraid for the same reasons.How do we survive? The libs are so unrealistic to think our economy can even survive let alone flourish. Even Bill Maher's bitching that his taxes are NUTS.(of course, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy:-)

"JonBerg, were you always conservative or did you have an epiphany later on in life, or??"

Honestly, I'm not sure but real life and I mean REAL LIFE, taught me a lot of lessons. I suppose that most children and adolescent people would lean on the "Liberal" side but there comes a time when one must face-the-facts. Thanks for your question; it's thought provoking and could, if I may,be a good subject for contemplation in a more open venue. Above all KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

QM, I won't waste too much time on the comments I deleted.......but I do feel sorry for you.

I wish you'd, just once, read my comments...it might help.By the way, I have never published pictures you describe at this blog.

I wish you peace. And, please, by the way, NEVER say Republicans don't care for or help the poor; you have NO IDEA what we all do in that regard.And it is not helping the poor to keep giving freebies; we believe in helping people earn, not TAKE. That is true love and I can understand how people with your mindset don't get that, but it is true.

Good luck to you on this beautiful Easter Sunday. I really do wish you some peace. Hate is a very hard thing to live with.

I still have a voice as long as I am an American.Let me take you back to May 1st, 2011 when Osama bin Laden was shot to death by American forces in Abbotabad, Pakistan. His body was quickly identified, given Muslim rites, and buried in the Arabian Sea. The administration it happened under was President Obama's.This man is #1 on al Qaeda's hit list. His Step Grandmother is #2. If he wanted to look like a "good" Muslim wouldn't he have helped bin Laden? He gives a speech on Middle East peace and now he's a enemy of civilization as we know it.

The right has been planning this for a while. Glenn Beck just didn't think of his "Restore Courage" rally. This was planned, just like the 9/12 rally and the March on Washington. This was done for one thing, to incite violence. Glenn doesn't care about people dying, as long as he gets paid. If he was really religious he wouldn't always speak of death.

What will happened when Glenn went to Israel? well when he planned his Project 9/12 rallies the blame was put on minorities.

The government of Israel didn’t try to stop his march. He's anti Semitic, anti-Muslim, anti Black, anti-Gay, anti- Woman and anti anything else you got. He's a threat to the national security of Israel. The only people that like Glenn Beck are bigots. He attracted all types of white supremacist there. Don't believe me then take a look at the Aryan Nation blog or Stormfront, they love him there. The blowback from this may even endanger members of his church, The Church of the Latter Day Saints also known as the Mormons.It was President OBAMA who was responsible for getting Osama bin Ladan, NO BODY ELSE and certainly NOT George Bush!Now the spin doctors want us to believe that President Obama is doing a "Victory lap" when he went to New York. No I never seen the President get off a jet carrier in Times Square in a flight suit with a giant codpiece, that was the other guy, you know, the guy that got us into TWO wars. People are calling his Presidency "imperial". The usual suspects are saying that he's acting like a dictator. They're trying to turn him into Bush. They're even calling him stupid like George Bush was. And still is. .There is no "victory lap" by President Obama . Now there were some victory churches that weren't Missions such as the ones that were built by the Ku Klux Klan in Tulsa 90 years ago after the Memorial Day riots. That day America was bombed for the first time from the air and maybe more that 3,000 died. Sound familiar? It's also known as Black Wall Street. Black people had their lives and money taken from them that day. They were chased from the area of Greenwood, Archer, and Pine. Then the Ku Klux Klan set up a government in Tulsa. Imagine if al Qaeda set up a government in New York and a so called victory Mosque. No that happen to Black people in Tulsa, Rosewood, St. Louis and other places. You still want to talk about victory laps and who celebrated them? About a year ago I tried to call Michael Gallagher's radio talk show when I was as pissed as hell when I heard that that Gallagher wanted the President arrested for killing bin Laden, you can't make this stuff up. Each time I reached his show they put me on hold and then hung up on me. On another occasion I have called his show and read him the riot act. After the third try the screener ask me if I wanted to relay a message to him. I told the screener that Mike was a racist, coward, and a traitor. If you haven't heard Mike's show let me let you know that he does the same thing that Glenn Beck does. One time Mike, Rush, and Malkin had a teacher quit because she taught students a song about the President. She had to "retire" because of all the death threats she was getting from Mike's fans. Well guess what, Michael Gallagher's show is now off the air! Good riddance to bad garbage.

QM, you really buy into the liberal doctrine, don't you.Keep commenting if it makes you feel better; I'll delete when I FEEL LIKE IT. You have a voice, but not here, not when you're as abusive as you have been. I didn't build this blog to have your mischaracterizations and name calling here.

This guy is, obviously, far too ignorant to understand one word that you have said! Or, as I sometimes suspect, he's just some sort of provocateur trying to p!$$-0## the more enlightened and literate bloggers with his inane blather!

3. Isn't it too bad people can't be lovers of a harmonious balanced flight through life like we are. Like colorful hummingbirds, drifting or speeding from flower to flower, taking in all the beauty that this Earth has to offer, not a hateful thought for anyone or any animal,though we must be wary of those beautiful cats.We wake in the morning, perched near the top of a grapefruit tree somewhere in Florida, or in the desert near Phoenix, take care of our beautiful lifelong partner, then head off through the wonderland of cactus flower to cactus flower drinking the sweet nectar, observing the distant early spring rainbows and the warm breezes, not a care in the world.

Wouldn't it be great if the mentally disturbed a-man could break out of his idiotic racially focused funk.

While it's true us white people go to that special house in the hood every Friday between 9 and 12 in the evening, give the special knock, and receive generous portions of $100 bills cast at us through the mail slot, surely, one doesn't need that to be happy right?

"Freedom is never more than one generation away fromextinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must befought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day wewill spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children whatit was once like in the United States where men werefree." -- Ronald Reagan

remember

Andrew Breitbart...American Hero

Mac 'n GeeeZis my food blog...enjoy! Sorry I haven't added to it in a long while.

President Obama has done such a horrible job with the economy and foreign policy that now Kenyans are accusing him of being born in the United States :-)

important reminders:

We are surrounded by IDIOTS...Mr. Z

“Barack Obama's political genius is his ability to say things that will sound good to people who have not followed the issues in any detail —regardless of how obviously fraudulent what he says may be to those who have. Shameless effrontery can be a huge political asset, especially if uninformed voters outnumber those who are informed.” Thomas Sowell.........AMENTolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. (doesn't matter who wrote it, it's true and it's here)

The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal.... Peter Brimelow

The difference between golf and government is that in golf you can't improve your lie. ~George Deukmejian

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